Hey guys I'm looking to buy a monitor (preferably two for a dual monitor setup). I would like for them to be larger than 20", but smaller than 28". I need monitors that I could connect to my PC to and one for my Xbox 360 slim.

Well if you want them to be the same, the one for the Xbox will limit your choice the most.The thing you'll really want is an HDMI connector, and ideally you want one with a game mode to minimise input lag.

You'll want probably a 1080p in either 23 or 24" and you'll have to decide if you want gloss for extra contrast or matte to reduce reflections.The Asus VK246 is a decent option but I'm sure others can suggest better; I'm a little out of touch with monitor tech (mostly annoyed that "gaming screens" are all cheap, nasty, glossy tat with lousy colours these days).

Some people ask me why I have always enclosed my signature in spoiler tags; There is a good reason for that, but I can't elaborate without giving away the plot twist.

That monitor isn't that bad, but it really is on the edge of the budget. I would definitely appreciate an IPS monitor. I have two at work and they are great, but really expensive.

Chrispy_ wrote:Well if you want them to be the same, the one for the Xbox will limit your choice the most.The thing you'll really want is an HDMI connector, and ideally you want one with a game mode to minimise input lag.

You'll want probably a 1080p in either 23 or 24" and you'll have to decide if you want gloss for extra contrast or matte to reduce reflections.The Asus VK246 is a decent option but I'm sure others can suggest better; I'm a little out of touch with monitor tech (mostly annoyed that "gaming screens" are all cheap, nasty, glossy tat with lousy colours these days).

The xbox does limit my choices, which is why I am here to see if my fellow peers have any glowing suggestions. It kinda sucks to have the xbox there, but it's the only place I could manage to put it. If the monitors are cheap enough and don't support the xbox I would be fine purchasing two monitors as long as they have DVI or display port and HDMI.

The U2312HM does not have HDMI, but nothing like a HDMI -> DVI cable or adapter can't solve. However, it does mean if you want to connect that 2nd monitor to a computer all the time (i.e. no cable juggling) digitally, you will need a DisplayPort connection from your video card. I have my Bluray player plugged to the older U2311 model via an adapter and there was no issue playing commercial Bluray discs, so HDCP over DVI with the adapter is working.

The Model M is not for the faint of heart. You either like them or hate them.

BIF wrote:If $500 is truly at the edge of the budget, and your upper size limit is < 28", then I suggest you wait a month or two and save more cash. Then you can afford the next size up and/or IPS screens.

And if you really think about it, you'll probably spend most of March watching college basketball and not computing anyway, right?

I'm not into sports lol and I don't want a bigger screen than 28". Since its not my TV or anything I don't need a huge size seeing as how i sit relatively close to my PC.

The U2312HM does not have HDMI, but nothing like a HDMI -> DVI cable or adapter can't solve. However, it does mean if you want to connect that 2nd monitor to a computer all the time (i.e. no cable juggling) digitally, you will need a DisplayPort connection from your video card. I have my Bluray player plugged to the older U2311 model via an adapter and there was no issue playing commercial Bluray discs, so HDCP over DVI with the adapter is working.

Have you looked into the Korean IPS monitors on eBay? I got a 27" IPS with DVI for about $300 including shipping, no tax.. I'm not sure what the Xbox uses to connect, so there is that.. You can get 24" for much cheaper than the 27".

druidcent wrote:Have you looked into the Korean IPS monitors on eBay? I got a 27" IPS with DVI for about $300 including shipping, no tax.. I'm not sure what the Xbox uses to connect, so there is that.. You can get 24" for much cheaper than the 27".

HDMI or component. Obviously could use a HDMI>DVI converted as stated earlier.

edit: Would need to think of a solution for sound on the Xbox though. Don't think there are separate outputs for sound/video.

druidcent wrote:Have you looked into the Korean IPS monitors on eBay? I got a 27" IPS with DVI for about $300 including shipping, no tax.. I'm not sure what the Xbox uses to connect, so there is that.. You can get 24" for much cheaper than the 27".

HDMI or component. Obviously could use a HDMI>DVI converted as stated earlier.

edit: Would need to think of a solution for sound on the Xbox though. Don't think there are separate outputs for sound/video.

The Xbox should have S/PDIF.

The Model M is not for the faint of heart. You either like them or hate them.

ASUS VS239H-P is a true 23" IPS LED monitor with HDMI, DVI, and VGA inputs. It also supports a headphone jack out for the HDMI input, so you can listen to the HDMI input (say, Xbox 360) with headphones if you wanted to, or use a 3.5mm cable to hook it into your computer's line in, thus playing it back through your computer speakers. It's also cheap, just $169 with free shipping! (*≧▽≦)

I have two of this monitor's little sister, the VS229H-P, which is 21.5" but still FullHD 1080p. My girlfriend had a VS239H-P until she gave it to her best friend and bought one of those cheapy Korean IPS monitors at my recommendation (much to my extreme envy...) （；¬＿¬)

Anyway, I really think it's the perfect monitor for you; it has a great picture with amazing colors and viewing angles for its price point. (； ｀ｪ´ ；)b三b

Oh, and another awesome thing about these monitors is the weight! You might not care about this like I do, because I'm a very small person, but my VS229H-Ps weigh like 3kg (~7lbs), which is extremely light for a monitor this size. Both the 229 and 239 support VESA mounting, too!

That U2312HM at Microcenter is likely not a 23 inch monitor. The price is much cheaper than other sites and if you look at the specs it's a strange mix of the 23 inch specs and the 21 inch specs. The size of the monitor listed is the same as the 21 inch monitor. Given the price that's likely the actual monitor they are selling. At every other site the U2312HM tends to run for about $200 and up. So you could pick it up at a place like Amazon.com for $212 plus about $30 in shipping costs.

nanoflower wrote:That U2312HM at Microcenter is likely not a 23 inch monitor. The price is much cheaper than other sites and if you look at the specs it's a strange mix of the 23 inch specs and the 21 inch specs. The size of the monitor listed is the same as the 21 inch monitor. Given the price that's likely the actual monitor they are selling. At every other site the U2312HM tends to run for about $200 and up. So you could pick it up at a place like Amazon.com for $212 plus about $30 in shipping costs.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. All the specs on that Microcenter page match the specs from the U2312 on Dell's page.

druidcent wrote:Have you looked into the Korean IPS monitors on eBay? I got a 27" IPS with DVI for about $300 including shipping, no tax.. I'm not sure what the Xbox uses to connect, so there is that.. You can get 24" for much cheaper than the 27".

The only bad thing about that is that the Xbox would be displaying in non-native. It doesn't support resolutions higher than 1920x1080 (even 1920x1200 is foreign to the device.) Most of those Korean monitors don't have scalers, so it would be a 1920x1080 sized picture in the middle of the screen...(。ヘ°)

DancinJack wrote:Would need to think of a solution for sound on the Xbox though. Don't think there are separate outputs for sound/video.

Actually, the Xbox 360 is perfectly happy to output analog audio simultaneously with HDMI video, but hooking in the connectors at the same time is kind of a pain, and if you don't have the connector specifically for that (there's a special connector that allows you to output RCA L/R and SPDIF audio along with the HDMI), you have to hack apart a component cable; it's kind of annoying. (・_・ヾ

Flying Fox wrote:The Xbox should have S/PDIF.

Not built onto the machine; it's part of the output cable. The component cable would have it; obviously the HDMI cable doesn't; as I noted above though, there is a connector specifically to allow S/PDIF (TOSlink) and twin-RCA analog audio out.

auxy wrote:Actually, the Xbox 360 is perfectly happy to output analog audio simultaneously with HDMI video, but hooking in the connectors at the same time is kind of a pain, and if you don't have the connector specifically for that (there's a special connector that allows you to output RCA L/R and SPDIF audio along with the HDMI), you have to hack apart a component cable; it's kind of annoying. (・_・ヾ

Not built onto the machine; it's part of the output cable. The component cable would have it; obviously the HDMI cable doesn't; as I noted above though, there is a connector specifically to allow S/PDIF (TOSlink) and twin-RCA analog audio out.

Yeah, I just meant if you were converting HDMI to DVI you'd need audio.

As for S/PDIF being built into the Xbox, it appears it is. So in this particular case we'd be looking at a situation like this: HDMI (from xbox) to DVI (to monitor) and S\PDIF (from Xbox) to whatever hardware he/she has.